Sunday, December 2, 2012

In 2000, the year I started collecting, I had a good interest in G-Shock watches. I always bought water resist digital watches and around that time I had a Timex watch with a rubber/metal bracelet. It had a badly scratched display, like the watches I had before that one. I knew the bracelet of that Timex wasn’t going to last that long anymore. Unfortunately, I had no internet, so my only source was looking at shops.

Finally in June 2000 my Timex broke and I went to a jeweler in Vlissingen (Flushing) to look at some G-Shocks. I ended up with a maroon DW-004 with a cloth and leather straps. At the start of the new school year, made myself an internet connection to the new science wing at the school I worked then. This actually meant I had to dive under the floor and to pull a cable from one end of the building, to the other end. En passant I pulled cables to several other parts of the school.

Left: probably the original photo I first saw of these DW-9005V models on a Dutch Jeweler's website.

My work was rewarded with a new computer in my office. In the quiet hours I surfed around internet, looking for G-Shocks. One of the first I found was this DW-9005V at a jeweler in Breda. According my old display, it was a black model with a negative display. I really loved this negative display and decided I should have at least one G-Shock with such a display. As G-Shocks were pricey, I had to save extra money to buy it. For weeks I visited this jeweler's website almost daily and when I finally had enough money, I called this jeweler. One of my biggest disappointments in my G-Shock collecting history. The photo was just an example of what a G-Shock was, they actually didn’t have this watch in the shop. Maybe they even never had it…

My search for this G-Shock continued. At the beginning of 2001 I we finally had an internet connection at home and I moved to another location of our school, also with bigger challenges. I found this model again, or at least I thought, at Megatime in Germany. It was called “Heavenly High”. As I can only write and speak a little German. I am a typical ß student. No problems with Maths, physics, biology and chemistry, but languages was never my thing. I also don’t have the illusion that my English writing is perfect, but I think I can make myself understandable. Anyway, I managed to contact the store and to order this watch, for about DM200.-. As the Euro wasn’t yet introduced, I also even had to pay bank costs. Although conservatives in our country do not see the benefit of the Euro, I already saw it when the international transactions between Euro countries became free of costs.

I was very exited when my package arrived. At that time I only bought G-Shocks from the Netherlands. A package all the way from Germany! My first step into the rest of the world. It was indeed a watch looking like the photo of the jeweler from Breda, but it was navy, not black, what I expected.

Not too long after that I discovered eBay Germany (there was no eBay in The Netherlands yet). A seller was selling the “Cosmoxer”, the black DW-9005V variant. I liked the “Heavenly High”, but I really wanted the black version. I don’t know what I paid for it, but at that time G-Shocks could be found for real low prices in Germany. I was quite surprised when I opened my package. Instead of a black model, I got the creme white model. Actually not a bad looking model. I communicated to the seller that I got the wrong model, but decided to keep it. Sending it back would cost me quite a lot shipping costs and actually this “Smokey Sunset” was looking actually great.

For a long time I didn’t look for this model, but a few years later I finally bought my first Cosmoxer. Now I have even twee. The version shown on my photo’s is a second one I bought used, to wear.

The DW-9005V models all thee have a negative display. The 2039 module looked much like the module I had on my first G-Shock with the 1569 module. The only real difference is that the icons for the the Alarm and Signal are replaced by the texts ALM and SIG. This is simply easier to see on a negative display, as negative displays are slightly harder to read than normal displays, specially these older ones. The Flash Alarm icon is still present, above the seconds.

I pretty much like the way the display lay-out. Roughly the display is divided in three horizontal parts and an eye on the left side of the middle part. Most important is the lowest part. This part shows time. The upper part shows the date in Timekeeping mode. In Alarm mode it can show the date and in Stopwatch mode and Countdown Timer mode it show’s current time. Maybe Casio should try to strive to have current time in the upper display in most functions on most G-Shocks and other wristwatches. It is understandable that with a programable alarm with date settings, it is not possible.

Well, above I have the already written what functions you can find on this wristwatch. The functions, Alarm, Countdown Timer and Stopwatch are in my opinion the basic functions to find on a digital wristwatch and these are also the only functions you’ll find on this watch.

Above is how the patch on the straps look like after a couple of years wear, it should have looked like the one below when it was new.

Another remarkable aspect of the “Cosmoxer” is the strap. Once I have defined these kind of straps as the “double Velcro” and it seems everybody knows what I mean, as I see my description pop-up quite often. This version strap has a non-elastic woven nylon under strap and a cloth (probably also nylon) upper strap. It might not sound and look comfortable, but actually these kind of straps are very comfortable. The under strap breaths, so even under warmer conditions it doesn’t irritate, although I can understand that these straps might be less comfortable in the tropics. I have no experience with these straps under this conditions unfortunately.

These DW-9005V models were probably only sold in Europe, maybe only in Germany and the Benelux, so you won’t find them easy elsewhere. It was first sold in March 1999 as a basic model, and was wide available for a long time, probably for a year or longer. The navy “Heavenly High” and creme white “Smokey Sunset” can be found relative easy in used condition on ebay Germany, but the black “Cosmoxer” is a bit harder to find. This is probably because black looked best and therefore probably were been worn until they are really gone.

In a 5 minute search I found one white, two navy blue and this black used DW-9005V's.

The used DW-9005V's will pass from owner to owner for relative low prices. This in the €30 - €50 regions. New or hardly worn ones are pretty hard to find, although in these cases, the price will not be really sky high. Think around the €60 - €70 range.

I really love this design and the very comfortable wear of this watch. Nowadays there is a wide choice of G-Shocks with a negative displays, but back in 1999 this must have been a real outstanding looker. It took me three attempts to finally get this watch, but frankly I pretty much like the way it went. I think the “Cosmoxer” is the best of the three, but the “Smokey Sunset” and the “Heavenly High” follow close. Without the buying mistakes I made, I probably never had never known all of this.

2 comments:

Cool! I have yet to purchase a G-Shock with that particular type of strap, though I've seen that they were quite popular in the late 90's. I still don't know what exactly is different between the DW-9000, 9005 & 9052. Sometimes Casio G-Shock makes these small model number changes and I can't figure out what's different (like DW-2300 vs DW-2310)

Anyway, if you get inside these watches, they appear to have a tough construction with a metal shell over the module and then a shock absorbing layer between the shell and the case. It's kind of like a steel-toed boot.

Thank you for your comment. Sometimes differences are small or maybe not present in slight different model numbers, specially if it's the last digit (like the DW-8200 vs DW-8201). This DW-9005 has a slightly different module, to make alarm functions more visible on a negative display. As far as I know the DW-9000 and DW-905X are identical.

The difference between the G-2300 and G-2310 however is good visible (I guess you mean the G-2300 and G-2310). The G-2310 has a metal ring around the display on the bezel, the G-2300 doesn't have it. It is not always good visible on every G-2310 model, as it can be a matte black ring too.

Welcome to 50 Gs

I'm Sjors and you might know me from my G-Peopleland website. I started this weblog in 2008, together with Greg from Canada. My initial goal was to write about 50 G-Shock models in one year. Meanwhile we are in the seventh series of 50 G-Shock Articles. I write mostly all the articles, but I also invite guest authors.

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